This has been a trying week for my family. On Monday my sister Annette’s husband Chris went in for an aortic valve replacement. He had a congenital defect which was causing his heart to pump less blood than his body needed, and it was making him weak as a kitten. Chris is a mechanic, so he was pretty happy to hear about a new minimally invasive technique called the “keyhole” technique, which is performed here in London by Dr. Kiaii, the chief of cardiology at London Health Sciences. He’s got an amazing rating on Rate My Dr, and there are tons of great articles on what he does.
Unfortunately the surgery didn’t go exactly as planned. In order to perform the surgery the doctors have to deflate the lung, and when they went to re-inflate the lung after the surgery, it didn’t respond. The doctors say he had an “inflammatory reaction”, and he has been in intensive care ever since.
It’s going to be a long road ahead, and right now they are looking for the smallest signs of improvement as steps down the road. Chris is a great guy, he’s awesome to my sister, and treats my parents like gold, so it really sucks to see him like this. Hopefully this is just a slight speed bump, and he’ll recover quickly.
Get better soon brother.
Update – November 17, 2012
Chris is out of the woods now, he’s getting his breathing tube out, and is making great progress.
Update – November 20, 2012
Chris is out of intensive care, and up in a regular room. He’s got quite a bit of therapy to get his strength back up, but every day he’s getting better.